#OscarsSoWhat: Ice Cube & Kevin Hart Aren’t Fazed By #OscarsSoWhite

While doing their promotional run for Ride Along 2 in the United Kingdom recently, stars Ice Cube and Kevin Hart spoke with famed British DJ Tim Westwood about the lack of diversity among the nominees for the upcoming 88th Academy Awards.

Both Cube and Hart appeared resolutely unfazed by the all-White list of Oscar candidates, revealing that their most prestigious reward is what the fans think.

“You’re looking at two guys that understand what the real Oscars are [and] that’s fanfare,” Kevin Hart said. “At the end of the day, we do movies for our fans. We do movies for people, all over the world. Our biggest reward is people coming out to support our product, man. There is no bigger reward than that. An Oscar, to those who have one and who have the opportunity to win, more power to you, God bless you, it’s an amazing thing to accomplish but it’s not what we stepped into this business for. So that’s not a world that we’re even concerned with, man.

“When your horse is no longer in the race, you tear up your ticket and go home, baby,” Ice Cube later adds. “It’s as simple as that.”

Later continuing, Kevin Hart maintained that the public uproar that’s transpired following the announcement of the nominees has turned the situation into a much larger spectacle. He added that artists should not let the body who nominate candidates — The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences — dictate one’s accomplishments.

“At the end of the day I feel like people are making a big deal out of it and we’re making it a spectacle,” he said. “It’s not a spectacle, man. Look, it is what it is. [It shouldn’t matter as much], it shouldn’t. Once again, God bless and more power to those who have one and who have the opportunity of winning this year, but, if you’re talented and you’re true to your profession, no award should ever compromise that. No one person or group of six people should ever dictate your level of accomplishment. Please, get the f-ck outta here. I wish I would give two cents of my concern to the judgement of others. I can’t, it’s not in me.”

Ice Cube and Kevin Hart’s interview with Tim Westwood can be viewed below: